Owner, workers at Wild West City indicted in shooting

The owner of the Wild West City theme park in Byram and two employees have been indicted in connection with the shooting two years ago that left a cowboy actor partially paralyzed and mostly unable to walk or speak.

Jerry McCrea/The Star-LedgerScott Harris of Byram, a former actor at Wild West City, with his fiancee, Kathi Unangst of Netcong, and his mother, Betty Harris, of Byram, looks over photos of himself taken before the 2006 shooting at the Sussex County theme park.

A Sussex County grand jury handed up a 25-count indictment Thursday against Wild West City owner Michael Stabile, manager Nathan McPeak and re-enactor Adalberto Morales, and the park's parent firms, Cheyenne Corporation and Western World, Inc., the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office said.

Stabile and McPeak previously had been charged in the case, while Morales who brought the live bullets into the park, had not been charged.

Plea negotiations were focusing on having the firms plead guilty and Stabile and McPeak enroll in pre-trial intervention, but the talks fell apart in April. The case then was presented to the grand jury on May 20.

The indictment came on the same day the victim, Scott Harris, 39, filed a civil lawsuit against Wild West City and made his first public appearance since the July 7, 2006 shooting.

Stabile was indicted on 13 counts, including six third- and fourth-degree violations of New Jersey firearm laws, three counts of aggravated assault, ranging in degree from fourth to second degree, one count of fourth-degree tampering with evidence, two counts of fourth-degree hindering apprehension and one count of violating a law intended to protect the public safety.

McPeak was indicted on two third-degree firearm violations and third-degree conspiracy.

Morales was indicted on one count of second-degree aggravated assault and one count of third-degree aggravated assault.

Cheyenne Corporation and Western World, Inc. each were indicted on four gun violations, one count of second-degree aggravated assault and one count of third-degree aggravated assault.

The indictment alleges the trio and firms are criminally responsible for the shooting of Harris during a performance of the "Sundance Skit" at Wild West City on July 7, 2006, when a bullet struck Harris in the forehead and caused severe brain damage. He spent months in a coma and a rehabilitation center and now lives in a group home in Harding.

The shooter, a then-17-year-old Sussex County high school student who also was a cowboy actor, accidentally loaded a .22-caliber revolver owned by the theme park with real bullets instead of blanks while running late for the shootout skit.

Morales brought into a locker room two boxes of ammunition, one with blanks, one with live rounds he had fired at a shooting range, and the teen mistakenly took some of the real bullets, authorities had said.

The teen pleaded guilty in May 2007 to causing bodily injury with a deadly weapon, and was sentenced to six months of a probation program similar to pretrial intervention, with charges dismissed upon successful completion.

Stabile and McPeak had their first appearances today in Superior Court in Newton. Stabile, 59, was released on $35,000 bail, while McPeak was released on $10,000 bail. It Authorities did not say if Morales had been arrested.

The defendants, who each could not immediately be reached for comment, will be arraigned within the six weeks. No further information was available.